It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soulmates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soulmates.

When I arrived to Edgewood, Wisconsin I didn’t plan to find him. I didn't plan to stumble into Joe's bar and have Daniel's music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss.

When I started senior year at my new school, I wasn’t prepared to call him Mr. Daniels, but sometimes life happens at the wrong time for all the right reasons.

Our love story wasn’t only about the physical connection.

It was about family. It was about loss. It was about being alive. It was silly. It was painful. It was mourning. It was laughter.

It was ours.

And for those reasons alone, I would never apologize for loving Mr. Daniels.

Review

I grabbed my copy of this book upon an indirect recommendation. I don't remember exactly who was raving about this author, but I know it must have been someone on this blog. That was enough for me to purchase this book and another by this same author.

The basis of this story pulled at my heartstrings because it starts around the strong bond between two sisters. Just reading about them made me appreciate my own sister a little more. While it's not the main plot, it remains as one of the more memorable parts because it is laced into the entire story.

The cover and title of the story made me suspicious to what this story could be about. The synopsis was certainly another clue. The story itself confirmed my suspicions. I'm not one to read about student/teacher relationships because I don't approve of them; they tend to go against my own beliefs. But, I couldn't help but like this story because 1) the characters are only a couple years apart in age and 2) it's clearly a love story, not a lust story. Those are the only 2 things that stopped me from putting the story down and casting it away to the dark corner where "Did-Not-Finish" books go to die.

I liked Daniel. He seems to be an upstanding kind of guy who wants always strives to do the right thing, even if it's something that hurts him emotionally and makes him unhappy. He's practically perfect, and sometimes that made him a little boring to read about. But for the most part, I liked him and kind of wish I could find a guy like him. As for Ashlyn, well, I can say with certainty I connected with her and definitely liked her as a character. She has doubts about who she matters to and we see her get bullied for something she cannot change or control. Those are general issues that I can understand and I was hoping things would work out for her.

I'm sad that we only get to know Gabby through letters. I think had she been a character in the story outside of those letters, we would have gotten to know a different Ashlyn than the one we read about.

This story had its moments--moments where I cried with Ashlyn, moments where I was rooting for her and Daniel, and moments where I thought Daniel deserved to get punched in the face. Hey, if I was a parent and found out a teacher was in a relationship with my kid, hells yeah I'd punch him/her.

There were some really cheesy moments where I just had to shut my eyes and then carry on, but I did like this story. That's why it gets 3.5 Platypires from me.

Synopsis: When Beth Michaels hightailed it out of the hole-in-the-road town she grew up in, she only had two goals. One—get as far away as quickly as possible, and two—never set foot in her parent’s home again. But when she receives a heart breaking call from her childhood best friend, Jen, she has no choice but to turn her ’56 Ford pickup back in the direction of Salem, Missouri to attend a funeral.There’s a new local in town when Beth arrives, and suddenly, it ain’t all that easy for her to remember her rules for dating.#1. Cookie-cutter-perfect guys ain’t her type.#2. Tie wearin’ and church frequentin’ is an automatic dismissal.#3. Most importantly, never date anyone from small minded, conservative, Bible-thumping towns like Salem.Unfortunately, Matthew Wright breaks all her rules and then some.Matt might be from a small town and have small town values, but that doesn’t mean he fits into a littleslot of Beth’s preconceived notions. After all, ever so often good guysare good. Now if he could just convince Beth to let go of her past and give him a chance, he’s pretty sure there’s a whole lotta sweet under that prickly exterior.His own … Sweet Contradiction.

Review

The story starts out with the mental abuse Beth's father put her through as a child. It's appalling just how extreme and fanatical her father is about God and the Bible, and this helps me sympathize with Beth and feel sorry for the childhood she suffered through.

I had a hard time deciding if I liked the pace of this story because it is on the short side and the plot was moving along rather quickly. I've never been a fan of insta-love and while Beth's love for Matt isn't instantaneous, it does develop rather quickly, as does his love for her.

There also wasn't much drama, which surprised me. I expected Matt and Beth to argue or have long, lengthy discussions on their spiritual and religious differences, but they don't because Matt says he doesn't care and accepts her as she is. In a real life relationship, this would cause strife and problems could arise. So I do think that the way things are handled are a tad unrealistic.

I do think their relationship is sweet and Matt is a patient man. To me, this book was pretty clean and was a sweet romance. I give Sweet Contradiction 3.5/5 Platypires.

For 17 year old Greer Wakefield, life has been perfect and normal. Her life is very green thanks to her parents, and she’s okay with that. Everything changes when her parents decide to take their green living to the next step. They move the family into an off the grid community. Greer grapples with the complete 180 her life has become. Living in an earth home takes some adjusting to.

Hunter Tumman has lived at Gridless all his life. Living off the grid is the only thing he knows. But new girl Greer catches his eye and their friendship throws him for a loop. Her stories of the outside has him questioning everything he thought he knew. Could there be more to life than what he’s experienced?

While one questions the life he's led, the other grows adjusted to the life she's thrust into. Will they meet in the middle or will they miss each other as they live their lives off the grid?

This is the second novella in the Off the Grid series. This one was a slight improvement over the last one, but it still lacked personality.

There was one aspect of the relationship between Hunter and Greer that I liked this time around. They have a lot to learn about each other, which is the downside to them having gotten together so quickly. They don't truly know each other, which makes me think that a conflict between them may come up in the following novellas in this series.

The parents disappointed me again this time around. There is an incident that results in Hunter staying over at Greer's home. The way her parents so readily agreed to that had me raising my eyebrows way, way up. It wasn't believable to me, and I don't care how easy-going some parents are. There is no way any parent would let their daughter's boyfriend to stay the night, even if it is in separate rooms.

What I am looking forward to is this trip Hunter and Greer take. Hunter is becoming more and more curious about the life that exists outside of Gridless, and it's something that might cause a conflict. Guess I'll have to read the next installments to find out.

Growing Up Gridless gets 3.5/5 Platypires.

Review

Kara begins her journey as a youthful innocent woman who marries the town bad boy against her parent’s wishes. A James Dean rebel clone…”THAT GUY”. You know the type because we have all had one of those in our past. Am I right? Though her bad choices bring her face-to-face with the dark side of human nature, Kara’s heartfelt desire to find a pure and everlasting love give her the courage to take chances.

This is the story of Kara and her quest to find her voice, freedom from her past and her own identity. She is a strong spirited female with a snarky attitude and an often-colorful viewpoint on life. Kara is no Barbie doll (either in build or temperament) and thus, her tale will relate to many female readers.

‘Take a Piece of My Heart’ is Kara’s journey of love, friendships, romance, lust and loss. She learns slowly that mistrust, love and hatred of some people may require a second chance.

This book will have you laughing out loud one moment and reaching for the tissue box soon after. It is an emotional read which will grab your heart from the first page and not release it until the final page.

Review:

***I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

I have mixed feelings on this book. Don't get me wrong, it was funny at some parts, and at other times I wholeheartedly sympathized with Kara, but something nags at me from a little before the halfway point in this book.

This most likely is because I'm biased because of my heritage, but I dislike it when I come across racial stereotypes or when I read something that comes off as derogatory when talking about different ethnic groups. I just want to say that it probably wasn't intentional, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. And that's all I will say on that matter.

As for the rest of the book, I enjoyed reading about Kara's experience with internet dating and the ups and downs of her relationships. However, at the beginning of this book, dialogue was almost non-existent. I like it when I read dialogue between characters and descriptions of what they do and how they interact with each other. It was a while before anything like that happened, and the beginning of the book is mostly narrative. The book does get better afterward, but descriptive words would have made many scenes pop out and make an impact on the reader. I felt I was being told instead of actually feeling like I was there.

Kara manages to escape her horrible situation and marriage fairly unscathed, and didn't act how I thought she would; she didn't really display behaviors that I have come to associate with victims of abuse. However, I have never been in that kind of situation, so this is only my opinion.

If there had been a bit more description and dialogue in the beginning, this could have been a 4 Platypire book. I have no doubt that the author can improve and will be on the lookout for more of her work to see her progress.

One blink, One breath of air, One moment in time ... Could change your life forever.

Growing up, Peyton Spencer fell in love with the boy across the road, Callum Reid. As the years went by, it only made sense that they would wind up being completely and utterly infatuated with each other. That was, until the morning Peyton wakes up to find Callum packing up and leaving the small town they lived in. Left heartbroken and with no explanation, Peyton spends the next four years of her life without him, ensuring they never cross paths again.

At seventeen and months after Callum leaves her, Peyton buries her parents—feeling more alone than ever before. Now at twenty-one, she’s inherited the family hotel, The Spencer-Dayle. Just when she thinks life couldn't get more complicated, the one person that shattered her heart, soul and belief returns. For Peyton, his return opens up all her old wounds and resurfaces the memories she’s tried to forget.

He’s not the same boy she once fell in love with. He’s guarded and keeps secrets close to him. Peyton knows her life will begin to unravel.Untold truths will finally come to light. Whether or not Peyton wants to hear it, the truth will undoubtedly break her heart all over again.

Review

Len Webster is an author who I used to follow on Wattpad. I've read two other stories from her, and I loved them.

That being said, I blame her for all the tears I shed while reading the ending of this book. I don't know what's up with me lately. Books almost NEVER make me cry, and it's such a waste not to use all the tissues I always have at the ready when people tell me a book will make me cry.

I didn't have any tissues ready for this book. I underestimated the book, or I overestimated my own sense of feels. Whatever the reason, this book made me cry.

This book didn't truly take off for me until after I was 1/3 into it. I mean, this book would have taken me two days max to read, and it took me four because I took 2-3 days off from reading it. The first part I couldn't get into and I wanted to.

Even with the ability this book had to make me cry, it could have been better. I felt that the crisis could have been explained way earlier, if Callum had gotten his business straight and just plain explained things to Peyton from the beginning, instead of being mysterious, running off, and leaving things unfinished. But then we wouldn't really have a story. Talk about time wasted.

I had a love/hate relationship with Peyton. I mean, I was rooting for her and Callum to work things out, but at the same time I felt like slapping her (solely for the purpose of making her see reason). Her personality bothered me. Is there such a thing as being way too humble? Way too complacent? Because that is what Peyton is. I hated that she was almost always in control of how situations went down. I wanted pure, raw emotion at some points in the story that called for it, and was sorely disappointed when I didn't get it. When she ended up emotionally hurt at some parts, I couldn't really sympathize with her because she chose to get hurt; she knew it, he knew it, we all knew it. Have some self preservation.

Maybe this all sounds a little harsh, but it's only because Peyton exasperated me so much. I didn't hate all of her, just the part where she basically let herself be walked all over like a doormat.

I loved the explanation of what Sometimes Moments are. Even though the idea of the plot is a bit common nowadays, I still read it because I once had a cousin in the same situation as Callum, but without all the love drama of this story.

I liked this book a lot, but I could have done without the mystery of why Callum left. This book gets 3.5 out of 5 Platypires from me.

Stone Hamilton had never known fear...until the accident. Since then, his life has spiraled out of control. He's been kicked out of private school, deemed a disappointment by his father, and forced to endure his own guilt, anger, and grief. The last thing he wants is a relationship with someone who will have expectations of him. But once he's enticed by the shimmering-pink lips of the oh-so-popular, academically-excelling, straitlaced hottie from his new school, he knows he's in trouble.

Seventeen-year-old Dara Golding has one goal for the summer: make enough money to buy a car, so that she can drive to school her senior year. After starting a new job, she realizes that she'll be working with the brooding, motorcycle-riding, bad boy who started attending Quail Mountain High last year. With his less than stellar reputation, he's everything she's afraid of...and that makes him dangerous.

Their undeniable attraction has Stone struggling with his inner demons. As Dara slowly allows Stone to claim her heart, a little white lie to cover an ugly truth could determine whether she's his savior or the final straw that will break his sanity.

I'll admit that after I read the book, I felt that the synopsis was a tad bit misleading, since reading the first sentence implies that Stone suffered an accident in his past. It isn't until very late in the book that we actually find out what accident happened and the circumstances. The last few chapters felt rushed to me, as shocking secrets are exposed and then the conflict seems to be resolved very quickly. It was unrealistic in a way because Stone's parents are at first shocked and horrified at what has been revealed, but then they seem to just kind of accept it and move on from it like nothing. There should have been more emotion, and Stone's parents ended up feeling like filler characters to move the crisis along.

Now, I'll admit, this story did have its moments. There are very few books that have ever caused me to shed a tear or two, and this book did that to me twice. One was with Dara and her mother, and the second was with Stone and his dad when they had a heart-to-heart. Just out of nowhere, a couple of tears dropped unexpectedly, and I found myself wondering why. I have reasoned that it's because at these points in the story I was very emotionally invested in what was going on.

Another thing I honestly truly loved about this book were the descriptions. They weren't too over the top, nor were they bland. Usually, I never really pay attention to how characters are described physically and end up imagining my own version of them, but this time it was easy to picture the characters as they were described.

Although I didn't love this story, I did enjoy reading it due to the tension that was felt at times. Stone is one of those characters that makes you want to yell at him for his mistakes and his hot/cold attitude.

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